Semi serious - BoJo's popularity & HIGNFY

[MimiLeBonk]

Semi serious question. Do other Mumsnetters think BoJo only became popular after hosting Have I Got News For You? After he was on that he suddenly seemed like the popular politician and was everywhere in the media.

It's a theory in this house that if he had not been on that program he would not have been known enough to eventually become mayor, then on to leading this campaign and then Brexit would have not gained the votes it did.

What do others think?

I agree. Hignfy made Farage appear charming and affable also.

Boris was on desert island discs in 2005 so he must have been relatively well known then

It's hard not to like someone who discusses the intricacies of Latin grammar on a populist comedy program .... (if my memory is correct).

and who can forget

I view BoJo rather as the spawn of the devil. I find his faux-Im just a regular chap me act irritating in the extreme.

Not usually a conspiracy theorist, but I make an exception for this piece of work. I strongly suspect that he has engineered the excuse for not running in the current circumstances and that he will be back when the dust has settled. Sigh.

He's been well known/popular for years - my youngest asked for a mini Boris for his 12th birthday (and every one since) over 8 years ago.

^ I agree he'll be back when the dust settles. That's common sense and politics which seems an oxymoron.

He's appeared on it 6 times since 1998, and the timings don't seem to map to his electoral successes.

But even if they did, he's appeared less than half the number of times of that other well known former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone.

Agree, sadly.

Incidentally, his BBC documentaries about early Islam was very good.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g1fp1

If he's stuck to being a classics professor ....

Also Dream of Rome

genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/1715ab3956624eb9803c23c68985da74

Where he speaks French and Italian (but clearly, like me, feels a tad unsure of his German ).

DH confessed to me that he voted for Boris for Mayor after seeing his Who Do You Think You Are programme. Boris has multiple ethnicities including Turkish and his wife is half Indian (and incidentally wore a spectacular sari to the Royal Wedding). DH thought this meant Boris would be a good representative of melting pot London. At no time did DH establish Boris's actual policies. FFS should have LTB

I certainly remember him being pro fox hunting in the debate prior to 2006 when I changed jobs, this is when he seemed to become a national 'luvvie" and get more recognition

And I'm fairly sure sure Ian Hislop mentioned something similar on HIGNFY in the run up to him becoming Mayor